F7i 



'vation Resources 
-Free® Type I 
8.5. Buffered 





POPILATIOIN' 179.754 (Federal Ccn.sus,1920) 

AREA 38.41 SQUARE MILES 

ELEVATION- 481 FEET ABOVE TIDE-WATER 




For further information address 
WORCESTER (::"a:1BER o/ COMMERCE 



I- 1r 

Early History Y^^WfJ 

STEADY wholesome (levelopineiit with neither boom 
nor set hack has been characteristic of Worcester 
from the time of its first i)ermanent settlement in 1713. 

In l(i(i9, a committee of the General Court decided that 
the tract of land Ivinj? on the west shore of "Quinsiga- 
mond" and near the outlet of "Nipnap" might possibly 
support from 30 to 60 families. Twice (1674 and 1683) 
was settlement attempted. Twice (1675 and 1702) were 
the settlers driven out l)y the Indians, and in 1718 there 
were prol)ably not over 200 inha})itants in this territory 
which included not oidy the i)resent \Vorce.ster but also the 
towns of Holden and Auburn. 

The plantation at Quinsigamond which was given the 
name of Worcester in 1684, was in 1722 vested with the 
powers and privileges of other towns within the province, 
and in 1780 declared to be, as were thej', a body corporate. 

In 1731, it was made the shire town of the new county of 
Worcester then set up, chosen not so much on account of 
its importance as of its central situation. 

Until the victory of Wolfe at Quebec and the peace of 
1763, Worcester was a frontier town, in an isolated position, 
constantly in danger of attack from the north and as late 
as 1783, W'ith a population of some 2,000, it was but seventh 
among the towns of the county, though third in wealth. 

Utilization of the water power on its various streams, 
and the establishment of industries, almost as varied as are 
those of the present time, brought it by 1825, forty-two 
years later, to the position of the largest and wealthiest 
town in the county, with a i:)opulation of 3900. 

A town that manufactured hats, clocks, chairs, paper, 
cards, carpets, corduroys and fustians, cotton, cotton and 
woolen machinery, and many other things could no longer 
be allowed to depend on wagons for transportation and in 
1828 the Blackstone Canal was opened between Worcester 
and Providence. 

The resulting diversion of trade undoubtedly stimulated 
the building of the Boston and Worcester Railroad which 
was completed in 1835 and Worcester began a development 
which has continued to the present day. The opening of 
the railroad to Norwich in 1840, to Providence in 1847, and 
finally to Springfield in 1849 firmly established Worcester 
as a center and gave to her the name she has since held, 
"The Heart of the Commonwealth." 

Immortals of Worcester and Worcester County 

V^orcester and Worcester County have been the home of many 
notable men and women, including: 

General Artemas Ward, the first American to receive the com- 
mission of General under American authority. 

General Rufus Putnam, Chief Engineer of the Continental Army. 

Colonel Timothy Bioelow, Commander of the "Minute Men" 
who marched from Worcester to Cambridge at the outbreak 
of the Revolutionary War. 

Isaiah Thomas, Patriot and Printer; Publisher ol the Massachusetts 
Spy, in which was printed the first copy of the Declaration of 
Independence to apiear in a New England newspaper. 

Eli Whitney, Inventor of the Cotton Gin. 

George Bancroft, Historian, Statesman, and Founder of the Naval 
School at .\nnapolis. 

Dorothea Lynue Dix. Protector of the World's Insane. 

.John S. C. Abbott, Historian. 

Elihi' Burritt, the "Learned Blacksmith " 

Elias Howe, .Jr., Inventor of the Sewin<: Machine. 

Dr. William T. G. Morton, Discoverer of the use of ether as an 
anaesthetic. 

Eli Thayer, Originator of the "Kansas Crusade." 

General Charles Dbvens. of Civil War fame. 

.Andrew Haswell Green, "Father of Greater New York." 

Clara Barton, Founder of the .\merican Red Cross. 

Edward Everett Hale, Clergyman and Author. 

George Frisbie Hoar, Eminent Statesman. 







, i Hf^aj iii M.iii i > i | i a»i* 





UNION STATION 



"City of Diversified Industries" 

Worcester has the hirgest population of any manu- 
facturing city in the country not on a watervvay, and is 
known throughout the world as the "City of Diversified 
Industries. " It is one of the greatest machine tool centers 
in the world, and is the center for rolling mill construction. 

Worcester has several industrial establishments that are 
the largest in their line in the country, and in some cases in 
the world. Among the Worcester factories that are world- 
known are those which produce: Steel and Wire, Machine 
Tools, Wire Goods, Coiled Springs, Grinding Wheels, Car- 
pets and Rugs, Leather and Leather Goods, Corsets, 
Shoes, Envelopes, Woolens, Skates, Wall Paper, Vacuum 
Cleaners, Valentines, Looms, Steam and Electric Cars, 
Automobile Parts, Firearms, Boilers, Clippers, Sprinkler 
Systems, Wrenches, Crankshafts, Textile Machinery, 
Wool-Spinning Machinery, Wire Nail Machinery, Pre- 
cision Gauges and Chains. 

Worcester has more than 600 manufacturing establish- 
ments, with invested capital amounting to $203,000,000. 
The annual product value is approximately $255,000,000. 

^^'orcester has excellent available factory sites regarding 
which information may be secured from the Industrial 
Bureau of the Chamber of Commerce. 

Transportation 

Worcester is served by three railroads — the Boston & 
Albany; New York, New Haven & Hartford; and the 
Boston & Maine, — and two trolley freight lines. 

Motor truck lines operate in all directions to points 
within a radius of 100 to L'iO miles. Regular service is 
maintained also t)etw('en Worcester and New York City, 
Brooklyn, Philadeli)hia and intermediate points. 

There are 200 passenger trains running in and out of 
Union Station daily, including through trains to New York 
City and the West. 

W'orcester and its surrounding territory is well covered 
by street railways. Trolley trii:)S can be taken in prac- 
tically all directions and for unusually long distances. 




A GLIMPSE OF THE BUSINESS DISTRICT FROM CITY HALL 



Mercantile 

Worcester is the shopping center for Worcester County, 
with a trading population of approximately 450,000. 
The city is well provided with thoroughly modern stores, 
including five department stores occupying more than 
1,000,000 square feet. 

Approximately 25,000 are employed in retail establish- 
ments, and the retail merchants' business aggregates 
$90,000,000 annually. 



An Educational Center 

Worcester has been an educational center for nearly 90 
years. It is the seat of Clark University, founded 
in 1887 (Collegiate Department founded in 1901); Holy 
Cross College, founded in 1843, Worcester Poly- 
technic Institute, founded in 1865; Worcester Acad- 
emy, founded in 1832; Assumption College, founded in 
1903; Massachusetts State Normal School, founded in 
1874; Worcester Boys' Trade School, founded in 1909; 
Worcester Girls' Trade School, founded in 1911. 

Worcester is a leading city in the world of intercollegiate 
sports, due to its enthusiastic support of college and school 
athletic contests. An attendance of 10,000 at a college 
baseball game is not infrequent. 

Worcester has 71 grammar school buildings, four high 
school buildings, one continuation school building, and ten 
portable buildings. These buildings and the land are 
valued at $4,596,388. 

Worcester has 29,000 public school pupils enrolled in the 
day schools and 5,200 in the evening schools. There are in 
the public day schools 985 grammar and high school 
teachers, 23 continuation teachers, and two Americaniza- 
tion supervisors, and in evening schools, 179 teachers. 

There are ten parochial schools in Worcester, three of 
them having high school departments. 

Worcester has one of the largest and best equipped 
private day schools in New England — The Bancroft 
School. 

Worcester also has several other excellent private, and 
business schools. 



The Worcestkr Art Museum, founded in 1896 by 
Stephen Salisbury, contains galleries of paintings and 
sculpture together with collections of various objects of 
art. The museum, which is among the finest in the 
United States, has an endowment of $4,000,000. 

* * * 

The Worcester Music Festival, which has been 
held annually for more than 60 years, is one of the most 
renowneci in the United States and is a national institution. 

* * * 

Worcester is the home of the American Antiquarian 
Society, which has a Library Building erected at a cost of 
$200,000. The Society was founded in Worcester in 
1812 and is one of the most distinguished historical bodies 
in this country. The library is on Salisbury Street, corner 

of Park Avenue. 

* * * 

The Worcester Historical Society, (formerly the 
Worcester Society of Antiquity) was founded in 1875 and 
has a valuable library and museum at 39 Salisbury Street. 

* * * 

The museum of the Worcester Natural History 
Society (organized in 1829) at 12 State Street, is recognized 
for the excellence of its collections. 

Churches 

Worcester has more than 100 churches with property 
valued at over .S8, 000, 000. Many of these churches are 
beautiful structures and are the object of civic pride. 

Libraries 

The service libraries of the city, containing over 600,000 
volumes, co-operate by specializing in certain fields. This 
enables them to render better service to the city as a 
whole. All of the following are open for reference use ; 
the Public and Law Libraries, for circulation also : 

American Antiquarian Society, Salisbury Street, cor. 
Park Avenue, founded 1812. Aim: Collection and 
preservation of material relating to American history. 
The library includes extensive files of American news- 
papers and old directories from many cities. 140,000 
vols. Open 9-5, Saturdays, 9-1 ; closed Sundays and 
holidaj^s. 

Clark University, 936 Main Street. Founded 1889. 
100,000 vols. Open 8-5. Closed Sundays and holidays. 

Free Public Library, 12 Elm Street. Founded 1859. 
General; specially rich in fine and useful arts, biography 
and history. 237,554 vols. Open 9 a. m. - 9.30 p. m. 
Sundays for reference, 2.00-9.00 p. m. Branches at 470 
West Boylston Street, 705 Southbridge Street, and 812 
Millbury Street. (23,000 vols.) 

Worcester Art Museum, 56 Salisbury Street. 
Founded 1898. Art, history and criticism, prints. 
4,562 vols. Open 9-5; Sundays, 2-5. 

Worcester County Horticultural Society-, 18 
Front Street. Founded 1846. Horticulture. 3,751 vols. 
Open, 9-5; Saturdays, 9-1. 

Worcester County Law Library, 14 Court House. 
Founded 1842. 38,393 vols. Open, 9-5; Saturdays, 9-1. 

Worcester District Medical Association, 18 Elm 
Street. Founded 1820. 10,000 vols. Specially strong 
in medical periodicals. May be used for reference at the 
Free Public Librarv. 



Worcester Historical Society, 39 Salisbury Street. 
Founded 1875 as the Worcester Society of Antiquity. 
40,000 books and pamphlets on local history, genealogy, 
etc. Open 2-5 p. m. 

Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Boynton Street. 
Founded 1870. Scientific and technical. 19,500 vols. 

The Chamber of Commerce maintains, for public 
reference, a library of about 200 current city directories 
from all parts of the United States. 

Financial 

Worcester depositors have never lost a dollar through a 
.bank failure. 

Its financial institutions include: 

Five Savings Banks with : 

Total Deposits .$96,500,000 

Total Assets 105,000,000 

Two National Banks with : 

Total Capital 1,200,000 

Total Surplus and Undivided Profits .... 1 ,950,000 

Total Deposits 25,250,000 

Total Assets 30,750,000 

Two Trust Companies with: 

Total Capital 1,800,000 

Total Surplus and Undivided Profits .... 1 ,950,000 

Total Deposits 33,500,000 

Total Assets 38,800,000 

Total Trust Funds 6,310,000 

Four Co-operative Banks with : 

Total Assets 5,500,000 

Grand total of bank resources $186,350,000 

W^orcester bank clearings are over$235,000,000annually. 

* * * 

Worcester has four insurance companies — one life and 
three mutual fire insurance, whose total assets are approxi- 
mately $70,000,000 with a total surplus of over $5,000,000. 

Worcester is the home of one of the oldest life insurance 
companies in the country. It was founded in 1844, does 
an active business in 23 states, and has insurance in force of 
$335,000,000. 

Postal Service 

The main Worcester post office has 88 clerks and 72 
carriers. There are four sub-stations with 19 clerks and 49 
carriers. Contract stations are situated at various con- 
venient places in the city, in department stores, drug stores, 
or similar establishments. At present there are 24 of these 
stations which are equipped for selling stamps, issuing 
money orders, and handling parcel post and registry busi- 
ness. The postal receipts for the last fiscal year were 
$858,000. Money orders were issued to the amount of 
.$2,000,000. 

Water Supply 

Worcester has a double water supply consisting of a 
high and low service system 

The high service has five impounding reservoirs located 
in the towns of Leicester and Paxton, with a total storage 
of 1,500,000,000 gallons, furnishing a water pressure of 145 
pounds at City Hall. 

The low service system has three reservoirs with a total 
storage of 1,800,0()0,0()0 gallons and a new reservoir 
to be completed in 1923 will add 3,000,000,000 gallons. 



The low service pressure at City Hall is 100 pounds. 

Worcester is one of the few cities in the coiuitry placed 
in the highest class in water supply and fire protection by 
the National Board of Fire Underwriters. 

There are 319 miles of main water pipes, 2,743 hydrants, 
4,548 water gates, 21,614 meters, 22,421 service pipes. 

The cost of the works to date has been $8,330,094. 

The average daily consumption is 16,576,000 gallons. 

The draft per capita is 90.4 gallons, and the total 
revenue from the sale of water, $624,000. 

Street System 

Worcester has a total of 224.6 miles of public streets, of 
which 30 miles are paved; 91 miles macadamized, and 
104.4 miles of gravel and dirt construction. 

There are 59 miles of granolithic sidewalks, 89 miles of 
brick sidewalks, and 10 miles of concrete sidewalks. 

Worcester was the first city in the United States to 
adopt the swinging arm type of trolley car flusher. The 
first i)iece of improved grouted granite block paving, on a 
concrete base, was laid in W^orcester. 

Worcester is "a city of trees" and beautiful shade trees 
line manv of the residential streets. 



Sewer System 

Worcester has 251 miles of sewers; a sewage purification 
works, costing $1,284,208.01; a pumping system costing 
$19,892.69, and a sewer svstem costing '$6,460,508.99. 
The total cost is $7,764,609.69. Total number of man- 
holes, 8,317. Total number of catch-basins, 3,930. 



Public Protection 

Worcester has a police department of 320 men. The 
city is divided into four police precincts, with four police 
precinct stations, and a well established and efficient 
detective bureau. Worcester has traffic and motorcycle 
squads, each consisting of 20 men. 

The police department equipment is motorized and 
consists of seven ambulances and touring cars, and 20 
motorcycles; also a riot gvm mounted on a motorcycle 

ready for anv emergencv. 

* * * 

Worcester has one of the best equipped fire departments 
in the country, housed in 22 buildings. There are 290 
men in the department and most of the equipment is 

motorized. 

* * * 

The last report of the Board of Health showed the death- 
rate per thousand residents to be 12.30. 

Worcester has medical inspection in the public schools 
and the Board of Health has established, with the co- 
operation of the school department, controlled Fresh Air 
Units by which children physically below standard are 
placed in a room by themselves and attention given to their 
diet and mode of living, with splendid results. 

Worcester has five hospitals— City Hospital, Memorial 
Hospital, St. Vincent Hospital, Hahnemann Hospital and 
Belmont Hospital, the latter a hospital for the treatment 
of communicable diseases, conducted under the direction 
of the Board of Health; also a state hospital and an emer- 
gency hospital. 




INSTITUTE PARK 

Parks and Playgrounds 

Worcester was the first city in the United States to pur- 
chase land for park puri)oses and lias IS parks with an 
acreage of 1,091.88. These parks are among the mo.st 
beautiful in the country and in most instances retain their 
natural attractiveness. Worcester also has 74 acres of 
playgrounds. 

The recreation grounds have 25 tennis courts, 21 base- 
ball diamonds, 15 picnic groves, four toboggan slides and 
the first muncipal club house in America. During a 
summer season 425,000 children attend the playgrounds 
and swimming beaches. Worcester has a Municipal Golf 
Course with over 500 registered players. 
* * * 

Lake Quinsigamond forms the eastern boundary of the 
city. Hundreds of canoes, rowl)oats, motoboats and sail- 
boats constitute the "lake fleet." The 1919 and 1920 
regattas of the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen 
were rowed on the lake course, which rowing authorities 
consider the equal of any in the country. 

Valuation of Worcester 

Worcester has a valuation, subject to local taxation, of 
$247,700,000; also property exempt from taxation valued 
at $15,584,000; and city-owned property valued at more 
than $26,000,000. 

Worcester has a borrowing capacity within the debt 
limit of $2,400,000. 




LAKE QUINSIGAMOND BRIDGE 



10 




THE COMMON 



BANCROFT HOTEL 



General Fact 

More than 30 hotels inokiding the Bancroft, a modern 
hostelry valued at more than $1,000,000. 

11 theatres, one of which is connected with a summer 
outing park. 

A union passenger station that cost more than $1,000,000. 

29,000 telephone stations with 160,000 local and 5,500 
toll calls daily. 

Four daily newspapers and one Sunday newspaper. 

A modern electric light and power plant. The maximum 
rate for electricity is lower than that of any other com- 
pany in the state. Worcester has also more underground 
cables than any other city of its size in the state. The 
city is also served by a high voltage electric power system 
that operates over a large territory. 

A thoroughly up-to-date gas plant, giving splendid 
service. 

Active and energetic Rotary, Kiwanis, Exchange, Auto- 
mobile and Advertising Clubs. 

A Boys' Club that is a model in its eciuipment and accom- 
plishments. The club has 4300 members, a number equal 
to one-fourth of all the school-boys in the city. 

A Y. M. C. A. with building and equipment larger than 
that of any city of its size in the country. 

A Masonic Temple considered one of the finest in the 
East. 

A Woman's Club of 1000 members, occupving a club 
house that co.st $100,000. 

A fair grounds and half-mile trotting park, at which the 
Fair of the New England and Worcester Agricultural 
Societies is held each fall. The Fair has been conducted 
annually for more than 100 years. 

Several other organizations owning buildings are: 
G. A. R.; D. A. R.; B. P. O. E.; Knights of Pythias; 
Knights of Columbus; Odd Fellows; Y. W. C. A.; A. O. H. : 
Catholic Women's Club. 

Several country clubs with excellent golf courses in the 
city and suburbs. The Worcester Country Club's 
eighteen-hole course is regarded as one of the finest in New 
England. 

A Worcester Welfare Federation, through which funds 
for charitv are raised bv an intensive annual campaign. 



11 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 110 925 1 




BANCROFT TOWER 

Named for George Bancroft, Historian 



I 



THE DAVIS PRESS, WORCESTER 



Conservati( 
Lig-Fre« 
Ph 8.5, 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 110 926 1 



